“Philosophy falls somewhere between the arts and sciences. On the one hand, it offers idiosyncratic worldviews that may be too disparate to compare: Hume and Husserl, for example, or Spinoza and Sartre. It is not surprising, then, that the question “Is philosophy progressive?” is hardly ever raised. On the other hand, philosophy, like science, is a quest for truth, and it too requires that we check our theories against what we observe in the external world, or the internal one (sense data, pains, etc.).”
Tag: 01.07
Klimt On The Bubble
How “did a work by Klimt, who was largely ignored by the art establishment just a few decades ago, suddenly vault more than four times to a previous auction record of $29.1 million? How did he surpass even Picasso, whose $104.2 million Blue Period Boy with a Pipe (1905)–still a much discussed market milestone two years after the fact–officially holds the slot for the most expensive painting sold at public auction?”
Looting Continues In Iraq
“At the root of the problem is the lack of trained security guards at each site. According to Donny George, former head of Iraq’s SBAH, which oversaw the archaeological sites, looting decreased by 90 percent at sites that were guarded. For the last two years, the Iraqi government provided funds for guards for the sites. In early 2006, the funding was increased to allow for 1,500 guards, but that money ran out in August.”
The Inherent Optimism Of Science
The World Question Center is back with its annual question for some of the world’s best thinkers: “As an activity, as a state of mind, science is fundamentally optimistic. Science figures out how things work and thus can make them work better. Much of the news is either good news or news that can be made good, thanks to ever deepening knowledge and ever more efficient and powerful tools and techniques. Science, on its frontiers, poses more and ever better questions, ever better put.” So what are they optimistic about, and why?
Celebrities For Non-Readers
Celebrity memoirs are everywhere these days; they’re big business, whether the “author” has anything really to say or not. So who reads them? “By and large, it is this same market of non-readers who buy celebrity memoirs, at least at the trashier end. These people–mainly young women–don’t view celebrity memoirs as books, but as extended magazine articles.”
Traveling Musicians Play A Dangerous Game Of Chance
This summer’s terror scare in the UK resulted in some high-profile difficulties for musicians attempting to bring their instruments on airplanes in the country. But in point of fact, when there isn’t a terrorist threat going on, it’s always been far harder for musicians to travel with their instruments in North America than anywhere else in the world, and that hasn’t changed. “The federal Transportation Security Administration and each airline have separate policies that can be confusing to musicians who wish to travel with their instruments. While airlines without specific musical instrument policies frequently welcome them aboard, some violin and viola cases may not meet strict size limits: limits that can be enforced at any time.”